A children's charity has called on everyone to make child safety a priority
"whether you're Premier League or Sunday League" following the sentencing of former England footballer Adam Johnson.

The NSPCC, which described Johnson's behaviour as "horrifying" and
"inexcusable", has sent a letter to the Football Association expressing
concerns about a potential "cultural problem" within the sport.

In the letter, the charity said it was concerned about the approach taken by
Sunderland Football Club when confronted with a serious child protection issue.

"We are worried this could be a cultural problem within football as a
whole and find it concerning clubs may not see incidents such as these as a
child protection issue.

This is not only about one rogue player that behaved badly, but a club that
seemingly did not have child protection priorities embedded into their culture.
It was not equipped to handle these allegations and seemingly did not deal
with them appropriately, or indeed seriously."